Effect of Atmospheric Cold Plasma on the Physicochemical Properties and Volatile Compounds of Apple and Cantaloupe Juices

Thermal pasteurization is widely used pasteurization method for juices, but it alters the quality and the aroma of the juice. Atmospheric cold plasma (ACP) is a non-thermal processing technology with potential applications in juice processing. The purpose of this study was to assess how ACP processing affects the quality of cloudy apple juice (AJ) and cantaloupe juice (CJ). Specifically, two different gasses were used in ACP treatment, which is simulated air (SA; 80% nitrogen and 20% oxygen) and combined gas (CG; 90% nitrogen and 10% oxygen) for 90 s. The effect of ACP treatment on the physicochemical characteristics, bioactive compounds, and volatile compounds was measured and compared with untreated and pasteurized juices. Overall, ACP did not significantly (p > 0.05) affect the juices' physicochemical characteristics. The color of CJ was demonstrated the similar results with untreated CJ, while the color of AJ was similar to the pasteurized AJ. The antioxidant activity of CJ was significantly reduced from 65.8 to 33.4% when SA was used as a processing gas. It was found that bioactive compounds in AJ did not change with gas type and were protected in CJ when ACP with CG was employed. ACP enhanced some juice flavors while destroying others when the volatile compound change was evaluated after ACP treatment. This research is one of the pioneers in volatile compound analysis of ACP-processed juices and requires more investigation.